Residents of St. Petersburg were told not to leave their homes after a large-scale targeted Russia鈥檚 second-largest city Saturday morning, underscoring Kyiv鈥檚 growing ability to hit deep inside Russia.
The attack came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin refused an offer to meet his Ukrainian counterpart.
St. Petersburg Gov. Alexander Beglov advised the residents not to go outside and warned of possible disruptions to mobile internet service, while regional Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said 141 drones were shot down over the surrounding Leningrad region.
Russia鈥檚 Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 376 Ukrainian drones.
鈥淟ast night, our drones covered a distance of about 1,000 kilometers to the St. Petersburg region 鈥� to the enemy navy鈥檚 arsenals and a base in Kronstadt,鈥� Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X.
Although no casualties were immediately reported, the renewed attack on St. Petersburg is the latest embarrassing blow to Putin鈥檚 efforts to cast the conflict as a distant event that doesn鈥檛 affect Russian daily life.
A Ukrainian set ablaze an oil terminal in the city and hit a nearby naval base Wednesday, hours before the opening of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin鈥檚 annual showcase for investment.
Speaking at the forum, Putin said Thursday that Russia will strengthen its air defenses to counter recent Ukrainian drone attacks, which have and cast a cloud over the event in his hometown of St. Petersburg.
Putin on Friday by for a face-to-face meeting on the 4-year-old conflict, saying he sees 鈥渘o point鈥� in it. Thursday鈥檚 letter, the first public message Zelenskyy has written directly to Putin since Russia , was a sweeping critique of the Russian leader鈥檚 26 years in power, as well as some taunts about his age.
Responding to Putin’s dismissal of the proposed meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Saturday that things would 鈥渙nly get worse for Russia.鈥�
“Failures will get more humiliating,” he wrote on X, warning that there are 鈥渘o safe places in Russia that can be exempt鈥� from Ukrainian long-range attacks, and that the intensity of attacks 鈥渨ill continue to grow.鈥�
With the front line barely moving as swarms of drones hinder advances, both sides have sought an edge by launching long-range strikes.
In Ukraine, one person was killed and three wounded overnight into Saturday in the Dnipropetrovsk region, as Russian forces struck three districts nearly 30 times with drones and artillery, regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said.
In Zaporizhzhia, seven people sought medical care after a Russian drone strike started a fire at a parking lot, according to regional head Ivan Fedorov.
Russia targeted Ukraine overnight with 272 strike drones, and air defenses shot down 249 of them, the Ukrainian air force said Saturday.
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